The 23 Artefacts of Syvega

-Mayor introduces us to Draccon Scaleseer (replacement for Sir Reginald Crow)
-He gives us a mission to find a druid that can ressurect Sir Reginald Crow
-He sets us up with the help of the shopowners to give us free stuff
-We begin our travels
-A few hours in, we find a cart on the side of the road with a broken axel
-Fix said cart, find random fucking kid under blankets in the cart
-Rolf uses Detect Evil, gets thrown back a metric shitton of feet away
-Palice fucking decapitates the kid
-Nighttime comes around, kid comes back as a ghost and stares at Palice
-More traveling, more crrepy fucking kid looking at Palice
-Find a Scarlet Shadow encampment, kill everyone and take it over
-Next day we set off the HobbGoblin cave
-Everyone sits back while Palice and Rolf have to take care of business
-Go into the cave, find room with Orcs and Goblins, realize they are prisoners
-Go to the armory, find metric shitton of people
-Palice duels one, the rest attack after
-We kill ALLTHETHINGS

- So the party got back from capturing Pentas. They went to meet Sir Reginald Crow outisde of the Seredian Tavern, Pig ’N Sailor. They handed over Pentas, and each got 100g in return, although Palice pointed out that Crow agreed to an extra 25g each so Crow coughed up the dough. Pentas was to be held in the single Jail Cell of Seredia until the town figured out what to do with him at the town meeting. Crow invited the adventurers to join in on the meeting.

- There was some time inbetween the party’s arrival and the town meeting so the adventurers had some extra time to do whatever they wanted.
Palice: Got crazy drunk
Rolf: Did nothing (Craig didn’t get there yet)
Giana & Thoril(ina): Just rested I think
Orville and Wilbur: Decided to stalk Crow out of Distrust and just plain Jest. Since Crow just sat in the tavern all day reading his notes, Wilbur decided to steal them. WIth Orvilles comical distraction, Wilbur was able to sneak up behind crow without him noticing, but right when the notes were in reach they fell off of the table onto the barkeeps side. “Oh no Crow don’t worry I’ll get those for you” said Wilbur. “Oh w-w-well okay, I mean the barkeep could just get them but okay thanks” Wilvur jumped over the table and as he was picking up the notes noticed that the two main options for Pentas’ fate was #1: Kill him, or #2: Interrogate and THEN Kill him.

- The town meeting ensued thereafter and the adventurers, as well as Crow, all sat together. How cute. Anyway, the meeting started and with massive restraint, The Jester managed to NOT grease the stage where the mayor stood. Good on you, Orville.
– So the mayor started discussing and slightly recapping what we knew about Pentas. He was a scout general for Scarlet Shadow, He had a Snake Blade, they don’t know where the Snake Blade is.
– Wilbur whispered to Crow and asked what the ‘Snake Blades’ were. The Snake Blades alone are not much of a problem to a skilled fighter, but when their blades and poison combine, they are said to fuse into an Artefact of Syvega. The Snake Blade. Gardner, Adder, ?, ?, ?, and Anaconda reaching from smallest to biggest, though not knowningly if bigger means better or more powerful. Orville unbeknowest to everyone, but the party at this time wields the Adder Blade.
– Next on the agenda was what the fate of Pentas would be.
Giana: made a convincing arguement that we should get info out of Pentas before killing him.
Palice: Was still crazy drunk so Thoril(ina) escorted him outside. (THEYFUKEDLOL)
Rolf: Derp
Wilbur & Orville: As members and honorary members of the thieves/assasin guild/school have been ordered to just kill all of the Scarlet Shadow so they voted to just kill Pentas on the spot. The sooner he was dead the better.
– As the meeting was starting to close someone mentioned that Pentas could use Divination magic to call others to his location. Just then a peasant bursted through the doors and screamed ’We’re under attack!!!!’
– The town guards, along with Rolf, all went on the initiative to counter the Scarlet Shadow. Him and the Guards exchanged hits, as well as men, consistantly.
– Meanwhile, Giana, Orville, Wilbur, and Palice went to the holding cell were Pentas was.
- The larger part of the party told the guards that they needed help, so they ran out to join the fray. Wilbur forgot to ask for the key to the cell though so he had to run out of the building to catch up with the guards to get it. Orville and Wilbur decided to let Giana get some info out of Pentas, saying that the Scarlet Shadow essentially wanted to make pacts with demons in order to rule the world. He also stated that none of the other members of the Scarlet Shadow probably had a snake blade because his was passed down from his family. Then to prove that Giana wasn’t a demon child, Wilbur asked Giana to kill Pentas. The child, eager to clear her name, relentlessly murdered Pentas. Orville took a torch from the wall, and lit Pentas’ corpse on fire so he couldn’t be ressurected. Wilbur locked up the cell, still with key, and the party went to aid in battle.
- As the party arrived, Rolf and the guards seemed to be doing pretty damn well against the Scarlet Shadow until one from out of the ordinary with an axe, I believe, started maiming guards left and right.
Rolf: Charged many S.S destroying them in one hit with his mighty war pony.
Giana & Thoril(ina): Fought with shortword and wit to take down a couple.
Palice: Showed that clerics didn’t just have to be heal bots in order to aid in battle, and attacked the S.S
Wilbur: Accidentally threw one of his swords, almost hitting an S.S, and kept trying to run over to it. His brother got hit twice while on his way, though so in order to protect his brother, Wilbur decided to try out some jump attacks he had been working on and with only one sword vanquished both foes. And then ran back to retrieve his sword.
Orville: Spun around with Adder and Dagger to attack his foes with comical force.
- The big bad axe S.S managed to knock Rolf off of his pony, though, and was attacking him without hesistation. After disposing of the lesser Scarlet Shadows the group all ganged up on the bigger one. With a single strike from the Jester, the Big Baddie fell, and the group went back to resume the town meeting.

- With the S.S defeated and Pentas dead there was nothing more to discuss at the moment, although future plans had to be made. Crow stated that the adventurers could either travel far away in pursuit of the Anaconda Snake Blade, or stay closer to town and defeat the Scarlet Shadow forces closer to home. After much debate between Giana and Wilbur, the group was about to reach a descision when the voices in Orvilles head forced him to weild his Adder against Crow, and kill him. Orville stabbed Crow through the neck, poison gushing out of his mouth. He fell to the ground and let out a last “S-s-plendi..d..” before losing all muscle control and life. His skin started to peel, as a snakes does, and the entire room was silent.

- And then EVERYONEBURSTEDOUTWITHARGUEMENT screaming and chaos ensued. Giana flipped out and started screaming bloody murder and the guards came close to Orville incase he tried anything else. An arguement between Giana and Wilbur, Orville’s brother, esued. Giana saying that Orville should be executed and Wilbur saying that no one really liked Crow anyways, who gives a shit?

- The mayor decided to hold a vote between Giana, Rolf, Wilbur, and Palice to decided Orvilles fate. At first there was no arguement from Wilbur, he said sure lets just keep Orville in jail, but Giana remembered that Wilbur still had the key to the jail cell. The guards searched Wilbur, but found nothing. He was able to hide the key on himself. Paper an pencil were passed between the four adventurers for them to list. #1. Why would Orville Kill Crow. #2. What should we do to Orville. #3. Why should we do it?

- Four ballots were passed in, and four ballots were read. One, that Rolf had crappily written by crow was disqualified. Palice’s stated that Orville should be set free for he is one of the greatest fighters and we needed him to overcome the S.S. One was sent by an anon source saying that Orville should be executed. And one, with a succesful forgery check, was from Giana & Thoril(ina) saying that Crow was a Double agent for the S.S and Orville should be freed immediately!

- Giana grew enraged and denied that she wrote that because it was signed by her AND Thoril(ina) and Thoril(ina) can’t write! Wilbur was the one who forged the note (Though no one knew it at the time) and made the mistake of signing Thoril(ina)’s name. He only knew them for 5 days so its understandable.

- Having gained nothing from the ballots, the mayor asked Orville personnaly why he killed them. Orville leaned back. Took out some ‘Z’. Said..
- As the mayor was about to pass the ruling for Orville, that he should be killed due to his addiction and uncontrollable nature. Captain Steven Leowitz bursted through the door and said ‘WAIT. I once had a drug problem with ’Z’. If I can overcome it than Orville can too!’ One by one members of the crowd stood up and confessed their addictions as well. The Mayor decided to keep Orville alive under the condition that Wilbur and Giana both watched over Orville to make sure he didn’t do anything crazy. The kitten under Orville’s hat is now named Leowitz.

- Sent to find Pentes
- Met Wilbur and Orvill in tavern – how convenient
-Woo hoo we’re going to find Pentes
- Would you look at that, tents and the scarlet shadow
- Orvil and wilbur try to sneak around, they make a noise.
- I point at them lololololol
- I charge at them, Wilbur breaks down wall like a big dum dum
- We fight, we win
- We open the next tent, after yelling Pentes. No ones there
- Orvil finds trap door under bed.
-Proceed down hall.
-Open door – I walk into gelatinous cube
-Everyone pokes it down, especially the Jester with the cross bow.
-Mean while, archerers line up around the raised part of the room
- Thorillina surfs the dude down stairs.
- Next room, presumably the last room, id closed. We set up a trap. We hide behind the stairs while travis knocks on the door, runs down the stairs, and put grease on the stairs.
They fall for it. I go to 1 hp through all of that, Craigs horse almost dies, as well as travis.
Pentes is captured, we win.

Mechanical Dragons and Extortioner Bandits

Ah hello there, back for more, hm? Well, let me tell you- the group has divided again. This time, they took the form of two groups. The first group consisted of the martial fighters- Thoril and Giana, Norm, and Rin. The second… well, let’s just say you haven’t met them yet. And as for Rolf and Palice? Well, that’s a quick story- the town needed them, Rolf as an interim Guard Captain and Palice was need to heal the unusually high number of sick and wounded at the moment.

Mechanical Dragons…

Well, let me tell you about that first group, eh? After hearing through Sir Reginald Crow that Sara Helgen had made some splendid progress on their runed tome, they headed on over to see what she had found. It was astounding, she believed that they came across a book detailing the location of one of the famed 23 Artefacts of Syvega, or possible more!

You see, back in the ancient times and throughout history, there have been those few people in the world that were closer to the deities in their ways than other mortals. Not all of them are known to any one person today, but rumor has it that over the years there were somewhere from ten to fifteen of these greats that together crafted these 23 artefacts. Some of these greats knew each other, and those in the different eras knew of those before them presumably.

Whatever the case, Gizmodo Gadgetzan was an extremely genius and curious gnome engineer. Centuries or millenniums ago he was crafting items and machines beyond even our understanding today. And what was more interesting, is that he left possibly one or more of his artefacts only 3 days away from Seredia! Beyond that knowledge the information eluded Sara Helgen but she was able to draw the four adventurers a map at the least.

Knowing now that the Count also wished to find the artefact and that the group was still under obligation to the Count for Blueoak Keep to continue questing for him, they set off with their rations and supplies for the location on the map. Sara had pinned the location somewhere along the north-west portion of the mountain range surrounding the scourgelands and the trek brought them past their new and future home.

After stopping in at the keep they dropped off Frank and whatever other belongings that had to be put into their room. And overnight stay ensured them that they’d have a shorter overall trip from their point of rest. In the morning the next day they left and headed straight towards the dungeon, most of the path to which was on a long-forgotten and barely visible road. The only discerning difference between the road and the ground were the small pebbles and rocks found off of the path.

A day into the journey they witnessed some humanoids out in the distance. Wary of zombies and other evils out in the scourgelands they ignored them and kept walking, making sure they stayed out of sight. That night however, they noticed a faint light out in the distance. Slowly it approached them. It became obvious by the bobbing of the light and the sound of footsteps that it was a person. When asked who, they replied that they were Sadie, a cleric of Pelor. They allowed her to approach more and saw that she spoke the truth. She explained her plight of her missing comrades and their failed mission against a Scarlet Shadow base for Count Jerald. The group decided that she could join them to their destination and return with them to Seredia when they finished.

Everyone in agreeance, they resumed their night shifts and headed out the next day with their new companion. Eventually they reached what they believed to be their destination. Built into the mountainside was a building of ancient stone and an iron door. No handle was in sight on the door, nor was any other means of entry. Norm climbed atop the building and saw that the roof was as solid as the walls, and after another look around, jumped back down. The only thing out of place that they saw was a small opening next to the door with thin, metal plate that spun on an axle.

When they touched and spun the plate a deep voice spoke to them in a language unbeknownst to them. They puzzled for a bit, unable to figure out the language or what to do, when finally in a rage Norm ripped the plate out of the wall. In that instant, the door slammed down almost squishing Norm under its weight. The door then again yelled at them in a foreign language and it became obvious that the door was alive. The door then flopped around slamming onto the group- or at least trying to. After a long, tiring battle the door finally stopped moving and became smashed and ripped apart. Inside were gears and other mechanical wonders beyond the minds of the group.

With the door now open, the entered the building and the first room was lit up brilliantly by spheres of light around the room that seem to magically light up. In the middle of the room a large slab of rock with writing all over it stood prominently. Doors identical to the one that had come alive stood at either end of the room to the left and right. Before examining the slab, they looked at the doors and saw that these had handles and did not appear to be alive.

Norm then took a look at the slab, and did not get much out of it. Another look and he though he discovered some short blurbs of text talking about doors, which they assumed had something to do with the living door they fought. With that, they tackled the room to the left first. Not much was to be found in this room, which was more like a messy walk-in closet. Scattered and rusted tools littered the floor and nothing of interest aside from a few forgotten coins on the ground.

Seeing that the door on the right was the only way left to go, they went in and found a larger room with two additional doors in here. In addition to these doors were more scattered tools and a workbench. Quickly looking over the workbench produced some floating, animated hammers which swung at every person. Luckily, the group was able to easily defeat and smash the hammers before the hammers could do the same to them.

-Me and Jason
-went to school of thieves
-Told too steal the mayors underwear
-Went to mayors house….bbroke in….found underwear…..Stole it…..left him in the bathroom
- Next day…..
-Went to town center…commotion….
-guy trying to take over the town….
- Juggle….
-Fight people…..
-Throws a bench….
-Kill him…
-gg no re…
-told to go and fight sarclet shadow

Corrupt Caverns, Unholy Errands, & A Dastardly Deed

Ah, well it seems you have returned for more of the story about the group in Geneda. Well, let me tell you- they split up! That’s right, they go their separate ways! Oh, hush now, I’m only part messing with you- they each got divided and had separate assignments to do. Let me start with the one filled with the most danger…

Corrupt Cavern – Part 1

Well, the first pair to go off were Rolf and Rin, the Valorous Paladin and the Hawk-eyed Archer. These two were approached by some unnamed representative of Count Jerald, you see, and they were asked to go on a separate mission from the rest of the group. Of course, little did they know the rest of the group was getting split up, too.

So there they were, in the Pig N’ Sailor, when this representative came in saying that Count Jerald needed them to investigate some cave regarding the Scarlet Shadow or such. He offered them 50gp each as well as 50gp to anyone else they could garner t go with them, saying it would help in uncovering mysteries about what they had witnessed at Blueoak Keep.

Of course they agreed, and with that Rin stood up on the table asking for others to go along. The first and only volunteer, and half-elf rogue by the name of Amber, agreed to go with them for a mere 20gp offered by Rin. After seeing no one else want to help Rin approached who she saw to be the toughest man in the tavern and asked why he would not go. Ensued was an argument about the man’s duties to his family, providing his well being and income over a possible risky windfall. Shortly then, Rin, Rolf and Amber left Seredia headed for the cave.

Little did Rin or Rolf know that Amber had very little actual experience out in the world- barely knowing how to shoot her bow or evade enemy flanks. This became painfully apparent to them when they got ambushed by a small goblin gang en route to the cave.

The goblins had been waiting, you see, on top of tall rocks and behind others- their archers in position to assist their melee counterparts. Now once these buggers revealed themselves Rin identified one of the archers on top of the rock and got to climbing- she’d be damned if this goblin would have the better vantage point. Down below Rolf charged on his new warpony with valiant ease, lancing all his foes. Amber however, found herself, back against a boulder with no way to run.

Well, the battle went on- Rolf trampling the goblins beneath his steed and he lanced at others, Rin getting knocked down by the goblin on the rock before getting up and shooting it off, and Amber taking some reckless wounds from the goblin’s axes before finally downing her first foe. In the end they were fine and continued onward to the cave.

By the time they reached the cave it had been a few hours. The banners of the Scarlet Shadow flew proudly, and probably foolishly, outside the entrance with the party entered. They were greeted immediately with more zombies, much like those they had already seen and fought. Rolf charged in and dispatched one immediately, while Rin and Amber took on the other two. A few well placed shots later and another zombie lay dead, while even more dagger slices left the third in pieces. Feeling confident the group moved onward to the northern door, leaving the southern one behind for now.

They saw a dim hallway with a door at the end and a turn going right next to it. Looking down this bend revealed another door and another bend, so they decided to check out the room that lay before them immediately. Once Rolf opened it perhaps his heart skipped a beat, as he was not expected to see spiders the size of himself, nor was he expected to see entire swarms of tiny spiders rushing towards him. Courageously though he charged in, squishing spiders in his wake. Rin shot arrows from behind, popping the first spiders venom sac and forcing its unholy soul from its body. Amber stayed in the hall with Rin fighting off a swarm of spiders while Rolf, and more importantly his steed, took the hits for the group.

One messy spider-fight later and the spiders were all dead, leaving behind no trace of their purpose in the cave. Once again taking the lead Rolf went to the next door, only to realize too late of the perils- a 30 foot plunge downward in the form of a covered trap. His horse lay wounded in this small pit, barely alive, so he did what he had to do- put it out of its misery. He collected the riding gear from his steed and made the somber climb back up, knowing that he must press on. Opening the door though, dealt them a more horrific sight than they had planned to see- demons!

A large demonic symbol lay on the ground along with many dead scarlet-robed figures. Imps stood in the circle fighting off the remaining Scarlet Shadow members who were there. During the course of this three-way fight Amber met her demise, the imp shoving his claws deep into her abdomen before being sledged to death by Rolf. She continued to bleed out while Rolf and Rin quickly dispatched all those in the room. Once safe, they tried to treat her wounds, but a fatal mistake led to her premature death. Deciding to leave the body until ready to leave, they left the room to finish clearing out the caves.

At the end of this hallway now stood one last door, a double door of large proportions, which opened up into a room grand in size. Here lay even more dead corpses, yet a smaller, concentrated demonic circle- with a single larger demon in it. Rolf was alone as Rin had taken the other way without realization, and Rolf suffered at the hands of this foe. Once she heard the commotion Rin ran back and shot the demon full of arrows. A short battle raged on between them, Paladin and Archer versus Demon, and when he almost knocked out the Paladin and faithful arrow put him near death. Panting, sweating, bleeding and cursing in his demon language, he made an attempt back to the circle, when he barely escaped back to which he came.

Now in pain, Rolf considered leaving their job undone, but Rin convinced him otherwise, taking the lead for the duration of the caves. What they now found in the southern door of the first room may have been an omen of what they had already seen- four Scarlet Shadow necromancers huddles around a demonic symbol chanting. Without hesitation Rin and Rolf killed these men with swift arrows and warhammer swings, moving on.

Down one last hallway they made their way to the final room of the caves. They entered, and what they saw offered little threat- two more of these weak zombies and a single Scarlet Shadow man. The man even hid under his desk until the zombies had been dealt with, but little did Rin and Rolf know of his trap. Rin went to attack the man but fell victim to the pit trap in the room activated by a lever under the desk.

With the archer preoccupied and the paladin visibly weak, he gloated for a moment and threw knives down upon Rin. In retaliation she shot arrows back until one finally hit the man, and then until Rolf kicked him down the pit himself, dying on impact. Rin then climbed out of the pit and the two scoured the desk and bookshelves for clues. Not much showed up besides another book in a magical language similar to that in Blueoak Keep. Taking that with them, they collected Amber’s body, sorted through her belongings for the group, and returned to town for their reward and rest.

Unholy Errands – Part 2

Now, at the same time, our angry cleric friend Palice, was sent back to Blueoak Keep to solve a few, should I say, fleeting issues. Much like the others, Palice was approached to do his job. Sir Reginald Crow appeared and asked him to return to the Keep to wipe out the remaining zombies in the area.

See, the Count’s men had already done a good job purging the area of zombies, and without casualty either. However, they did stumble across some form of superior zombie who seemed to be controlling the others. They tried to fight it, but wound up retreating from it’s strength. So, what were they to do? Why, have the holy cleric come in, of course!

And he did. Palice arrived without incident at Blueoak Keep that day, watching the workers do their work on renovating it. They told him that since he was the first, that he’d get first pick at rooms, too. Besides the house, Palice saw the stables and kennel rebuilt- the stables with enough room for steed for the parts, and the kennel rebuilt to house more canines or creatures in an enclosed environment. Lastly, and to Palice’s liking, they erected a miniature shrine to Pelor in a small building within the Keep’s walls for him to pray at.

But it wasn’t all watch and play. Soon night fell, and as promised the Count’s troops had led the zombies to the keep. Palice and two guards on duty took on the zombies with ease, Palice toting his new mace, the Star of Erythnul. He discovered the powers of the star first hand when he accidentally damage one of the guards, the excess pain of his foe injecting itself into his ally. After felling a good number of the zombies, the more wounded of the guards fell back, seeing the Cleric and fellow guard take on the rest.

Unfortunately for that guard, the superior zombie rounded the blockade and shocked him from afar. Palice came around to attack the other zombies just in time to see the superior zombie running up and slamming the guard unconscious.

Without hesitation, Palice called upon his turning powers to repel the abomination and it’s remaining zombies, forcing them to cower from his divine might. The remaining guard quickly fell the other two zombies before returning to help Palice, who chased at a distance after the superior zombie. After healing and fallen guard, Palice summoned a Celestial giant fire beetle and used it to surround the zombie with the guards. After hacking at the helpless zombie, the beetle vanished and gave way for the zombie to run once more. Coming in for the kill, Palice ran in and attempted to bludgeon its head off before him and a guard finally killed it.

An inner peace filled Palice, a way of Pelor telling him that the land was more pure now and the zombies were no more. The guards and carpenters thanked Palice by allowing him to select his room first and by showing him all the improvements to the keep they were making. When he finally set back off to Seredia, Sir Reginald Crow thanked him and payed him the agreed amount for his services.

A Dastardly Deed – Part 3

As you can guess, the last group was Norm, Giana and Thoril. While everyone was out of town taking care of business, the mayor of Seredia approached them and tasked them with a personal quest- find the stolen deed to their new home, Blueoak Keep. The mayor informed them that it was stolen during the market and that only a few people could not be accounted for, making the suspect list. The five suspicious ones were Sara Helgen, of Sara’s scrolls; Haggard Fulsten, of the Pig N’ Sailor; Geoffry Blackgard, head of the Labor Group; Salvador Greenwall, head of the Carpenters; and Sir Reginald Crow.

Their first two suspects visited, Sara and Haggard, proved to be useful. Giana explained to them the situation and both proved helpful while promising their innocence. Sara gave the alibi that she had been working constantly on deciphering the runed book they brought her. Haggard had no real alibi other than he had been working here in the tavern, as usual. They did however point the group towards certain clues about the keeps low, magical property as well as the history regarding the construction of the keep and the Blueoak Bandits.

Their next stop brought them to the house of Geoffry, where they were most unwelcome. Besides curt, standoffish remarks and answers, he rudely stopped answering questions and refused cooperation. After him they next went to the residence of Salvador, who was quite the opposite of Geoffry. Sal answered all of their questions and cooperated, giving them the names of guards who could verify that he was on the trail from the Keep itself when the deed was stolen.

After looking at the information, and not thinking it could have been Sir Reginald Crow, they decided to give him a visit just to verify that it wasn’t him who took the deed. A quick visit and a search of his room showed no sign of the deed, and he cited himself as being in his room at the Pig N’ Sailor the entire time. Neither him nor Haggard saw each other which added to the idea that Reginald was there the entire time.

Going around to Sara and Haggard, and eventually the mayor a few times provided more clues and more fingers were pointed. Sara flipped her entire room upside down, trying to prove her innocence in not having the deed. Although her performance seemed suspicious, Norm and Giana figured her innocent for the time being and found themselves stumped. Finally, they retrieved a warrant and entered Geoffry’s house with a town guard.

After a few minutes of searching a trap door was unveiled underneath his bed, but Geoffry denied access by saying that it went outside city limits and that their warrant did not allow them to search it. The guard agreed with him, and returned back to the mayor with Giana, Thoril and Norm to see what he could do. By now there was no doubt in the minds of the mayor and the party that Geoffry did it, but the mayor would not allow the invasion without proof that the other four were innocent. Crow and Sal were already innocent, and their suspicions of Sara were all but dropped. Lastly, the only suspect otherwise was Haggard.

Unmentioned was Haggard’s reluctance earlier to them searching. He allowed them to search his entire room save or a lockbox. Now came the time to search it, and with the greatest reluctance he agreed. After seeing its contents, Giana and Norm agreed that he was innocent and not to tell the contents of the lockbox to anyone. With this knowledge, they began the pursuit of Geoffry through the tunnel, the guards searching and standing by in his house.

After a long trek through the tunnel they eventually made way to a wooden door. Inside the door were two bandits, in the garb of the Blueoak Bandits, which they had figured out Geoffry had been a part of by an anonymous source. Though believed to be long gone, the Blueoak Bandits now stood here in front of them.

A bluff stating they wished to join the bandits sent one of them gone long enough for Norm to grapple the other and drag him off into the tunnel. Returning was the left bandit and the boss, who they quickly made work of, Norm being injured in the process. Once the commotion was down Norm dressed himself in the Blueoak Bandit cloak and brought in Giana and Thoril, bluffing the others that they were responsible for the Boss’ injuries and brought them to a jail cell by lucky guess.

Once in, they met another inmate who said he would fight if he could. One by one, distraction by distraction, Norm made quick works of the other bandits until him, Thoril, Giana and the inmate made a stand against them all. A battle ensued and the inmate fell to an unfortunate death. A single bandit escaped into the last room, and when they chased they saw the boss laying unconscious on the bed. A medicine man stood by her and two more bandits met them. Quickly, Thoril and Giana’s superior fighting abilities downed the three leaving them with just the boss. Thoril slew her and Giana was too late to stop him, as she wanted to ask her questions.

They soon collected the loot and found the deed on one of the bodies that they killed and then identified as Geoffry’s. Their suspicions right, and their quest successful, they headed back for their reward, with their new home safely in hand.

~~~~

So, now with the separation done with, and the group coming together, they found themselves stronger individually. And as they say, son, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Well, reunited, they will now face much stronger foes than this, as their strengths combined are a match for most. Come back again later, and you might just hear more of their tale.

The starting of the adventurers' new lives.

A help wanted poster, a keep overtaken by necromancers, and five (or six) unsuspecting adventurers.

The day seemed no different than any other to any of the heroes. They were adventurers, fighters, mercenaries, travelers, and dreamers by trade and life. Although by themselves and together a bit of eccentric folk, none can argue that the greatest of heroes have by any means every been average or normal.

The day started with each answering the the help poster put up by Count Jerald, but none of them knew what for. There was Norm, the human monk with his llama, ever ready to put his mind to the test and himself last. Of course, there was also Rin- she was a mercenary with a penchant for money and the skills with a bow to get it. Palice, the mysterious cleric and servant of Pelor, covered in armor and robes over every inch of himself- his mystery only matched by the powers that Pelor bestows upon him. Next we have Rolf- an oddball of a gnomish paladin, full of valor, integrity and justice with his hammer dealing his righteous fury. Lastly we see Giana and Thoril- an odd sight but a good combination nonetheless- the large Thoril, silent and strong carrying his quick-witted younger sister.

To each of them, their day was normal. They all have their goals and this was just another stepping stone to reach them. Little did they know what happened here would be leading up to something bigger.

When they first arrived at the Pig N’ Sailor, the tavern listed as the meeting place with the Count’s representative, no such person was found. An old man approached them and bought them drinks and while they waited, recounted the story of the Order of the Emerald Path. He instilled in them some lessons about teamwork in hopes that it would help.

Not too much later they were met with the representative of the count- Sir Reginald Crow. He asked them to go to Blueoak Keep as the Count had acquired the deed to the land but reports of disturbances were preventing proper work and restoration being done. Sir Reginald Crow explained that the land was just over the line dividing them from the scourgelands- the part of Geneda that was hit with the scourge and plague many centuries ago that has never recovered. What lies in these parts now aren’t common knowledge and myths, legends and fables have sprung up since then about what dark and twisted creatures and powers lay in the wake all these centuries later.

After some details were left out and some SPLENDIDS! were added in the group agreed to the reward of 100gp each as well as recognition in the court of Count Jerald. After stocking up on supplies they took on the 8 hour travel on foot.

The first leg of the adventure through Geneda was peaceful, but soon after in the scourgelands it wasn’t all sunshine. The grass was gray and brown and dead, the sky darkened, the air seemed thicker, almost like it was trying to choke you. And finally, along the road, the party met up with five men. Four of the men were huddled around in a circle while another man stood off to the side watching, wearing a scarlet robe.

Upon approaching the men a horrid realization hit the cleric and paladin- these were zombies feasting on the flesh of the living. With that they and the rest of the group sprang into action fending off the zombies and taking on the robed man. Rin was quick to draw her bow and flew an arrow into the heart of the robed man, dropping dead in front of them. The zombies put up a fair fight, their powerful limbs incapable of knowing pain slamming the adventurers with full force a few times before being put down.

A quick search revealed that these zombies were once no more than commoners, perhaps those that lived here centuries ago. The hooded man, however, was still a mystery even with his belongings- his scarlet robe, a dagger, some silver and a mysterious spellbook.

Deciding to move onward the group followed the directions further to Blueoak Keep where they were met with more resistance. Even more zombies and two more robed figures stood barricaded outside the keep walls.

Knowing that this threat must be removed the group rushed into combat slaying these wretched undead so that they my advance. However, the necromancers seeing the zeal and power that is plain of any paladin decided to sap his strength with vicious black rays of enfeeblement. With the paladin weakened the rest of the party bested the robed figures and remaining zombies while pondering the condition of their friend. After moments of trying to figure out what to do the paladin’s strength returned and they continued on their way.

Inside the walls of the keep they could see that the large two-story building was not all that was contained. A small dog kennel and stable also resided to the right of the building and the party decided that it would be a smarter idea to secure the perimeter of the building before heading inside. At the kennel Rin decided to approach and see if there was anything inside, but was suddenly greeted with an unexpected discovery- zombified dogs. The group, half of which were heading to the stable turned around except the Paladin who continued into the stable. As soon as the dogs were disposed of the rest of the group noticed the Paladin fighting off a zombified horse and quickly defeated it. Not much besides the rotting flesh of the creaturs could be found around the building or the stales and kennel. After seeing the walls as secured as they like they finally headed inside.

The first room they found was a mess- destroyed furniture and debris everywhere. The only worthwhile pieces left were a desk and some ruined painting on the wall. They moved on, single file, with the paladin riding the llama as a steed in the front. As they opened the door a hallway presented itself with a door to the left, a door in front of the, and an open room to the right.

They decided to check out the open room lest they have any surprises behind them. Dead bodies lay strewn across the room and Giana tells Thoril to remove the heads to that they don’t rise up as undead. From here they saw two more doors as well as a stairwell heading up. Opening the door farthest from the hall they discovered a mostly intact office area filled with bookshelves and a desk. It was here that they discovered a tome of magic writing that none could understand. Feeling it was important they took it from the room and headed back. Going from room to room to room they found three more groups of enemies.

In the first room was zombies Surrounded by more rubble and debris. The paladin made easy work of these beasts as well did the rest of the group. Finding no more than some silvers and rotting clothes, the next room held three more robed figured. Again charging in, the paladin impaled one while Rin shot one and the other was beaten.

Having one final room to enter on this floor the group felt confident of their abilities. This room was empty besides three counters around the entrance. Zombies, robed figures and a foul, purple-skinned creature met them and once more the paladin charged with the llama as his steed. He charged into a corner which ultimately worked against him as a robed figure and the purple creature trapped him and paralyzed the llama, knocking him off.

The rest of the part remained trapped in the hall fending off zombies one by one until the path was clear. Knowing he was outmatched the paladin ran past the creature and man to the other side of the room where his group met up with him and his assailants. Once more the paladin’s strength was drained from him from wicked bolts which had been missing him prior and it was up to the others to take down their enemies.

With their enemies finally dead and the paladin restored, they decided they should take out whatever may be upstairs as to claim their reward. The cleric did what he could to heal the group, and did it with a swear instead of a smile. Up the stairs met them with an open room leading into a broom closet of no mention and on final huge door from which inside noises could be heard. Opening the door showed them a small horde of zombies, more robed figures, and another figure clad in a black robe, bearing a familiar symbol to Thoril and Giana. Behind him was a large portal of mixed and gnarly colors and magics.

At first the fight seemed in their favor as they charged in and hacked about the zombies, but quickly the black-robed man flew across the room, paralyzing all of them with ease. But then, just as their adventure seemed to end as it started, a bright light illuminated the place and stepped through was a woman of angelic beauty. She dispatched all who opposed her within seconds, burning the black-robed man with the touch of her hand.

The man dead, the rest of the group returned to life and saw their savior. They went to ask her name, and as she turned to say it, through the portal stepped a 20 foot tall man who grabbed the angel in one hand and pummeled her, smashed her body against the walls, and snapped her in half before finally throwing her down and spitting acid onto her body, melting it before the group. He gave them one look, sneered, grabbed the dead man in black, raising him, and stepped through the portal with him, closing it as they went.

The party was full of shock at what they witnessed and retreated to outside the building, but not before looting the room and noticing a strange looking mace with a skull where the portal once was. It was night, and rather than risk the walk back now they decided to rest in the stables, kennel, and the first room under some debris. The next morning they decided it would be best to go back and report their findings to Sir Reginald Crow. After hearing them out and rewarding them, with a little extra as well, he told them he would send for Count Jerald so that they may tell their story to him and get some answers to their questions.

With a week to spare they all set off with busy work- buying and selling what they found, doing research on the tome with magic writing, and in the case of Palice, paying for and understanding that he held The Star of Erythnul, a powerful mace forged centuries ago in an unholy attack on Heironeous. He prayed for Pelor’s guidance and received his blessing to wield the weapon for Pelor’s glory. Elsewhere they relaxed or crafted more arrows or looked for answers.

Sir Crow then paid for their tavern bill during this time and came back a week later with Count Jerald. Upon meeting and adventurers he thanked them and answered their questions, especially Giana’s regarding the robed men and any correlation they have to recent attacks. Jerald confirmed her suspicions and said they are most likely the Scarlet Shadow, a group of necromancers who have taken refuge in the scourgelands.

And then, Count Jerald gave the group an audacious offer- serve him a few times more, and they may stay at and eventually own for themselves Blueoak Keep. If they agreed, which they did, he would have a restoration team fix the keep up to their liking as well as sending out scouting teams with clerics to remove any nearby zombies that might wander into their area. Excitedly for some and reluctantly for others, they agreed. He told them to stay in Seredia for the time being and that their food and lodging tabs will be handled by Sir Crow until Blueoak Keep was ready for them, and at that time they would be given their next task.

What happens, next, you ask? Well, I assure you, history does not write itself overnight, so next time return and hear the grand tale of the Twenty-Three Artefacts of Syvega. Oh, you say I didn’t mention the Artefacts? Well, of course not! The first chapter of no great tome ever reveals the main plot! Hehe, just return here another time, and hear the rest of the story, friends.